Rules for the Perfect Coffee – Part 1
Written by admin on 30 April, 2009 – 3:29 pm -
Recall that Friday 17 April was Espresso Italiano Day 2009 – the first national day of the espresso and cappuccino, organised by the Istituto Nazionale Espresso Italiano. Well here is the first part of the vademecum that I picked up in one of the bars in Turin. Part 2 will follow next week. A big thank you to Carlo Odello (Istituto Nazionale Espresso Italiano) for allowing me to publish it.
A translation will follow soon for those who don’t speak or are learning Italian. It might be good practice to try and understand it yourself first – maybe over a nice cappuccino!
Please let me know how you feel about these ‘rules’ and if you have any other tips add them in the comments below.
Posted in Food & Drink | 1 Comment »
Beckham Makes it Big in Milan
Written by admin on 23 April, 2009 – 3:20 pm -
Victoria that is, not David! Here she is next to the under construction Armani Hotel at the end of Via Montenapoleone, the fashion district of Milan.
I recently heard she has fallen in love with Milan and would like to live in the city. Where? Castello Sforzesco (no joke). Maybe she wants to become the Queen of Italy too!
David seems to be doing quite well with his football at AC. He is a hard worker on the pitch and the fans have taken him to their hearts.
Posted in Entertainment | 2 Comments »
Word of the Week
Written by admin on 22 April, 2009 – 10:23 am -
This week, after a short break, I return to the Italian Commedia dell’Arte characters with…
Pantalone
Usually a lustful, rich, miserly Venetian and one of the vecchi or old men. Traditionally he wears a mask with a long hooked nose and often is the father to one of the innamorati.
Further reading: The Italian Comedy by Pierre Louis Duchartre
Posted in Language | No Comments »
Espresso Yourself!
Written by admin on 17 April, 2009 – 5:37 am -
Today is Espresso Italiano Day 2009 – the first national day of the espresso and cappuccino, organised by the Istituto Nazionale Espresso Italiano. This is something Mr Cappuccino and all coffee lovers must celebrate!
The espresso is a small drink with a strong hold over the Italians. In fact it is estimated that about 70 million cups of it are consumed at the bar each day! That’s an amazing statistic.
There will be about 3000 selected bars distributing in omaggio half a million vademecum or handbooks describing the qualities of a Certified Espresso Italiano and giving useful tips on how to discern the professionalism of a barista.
So what is the perfect coffee? According to the Secretary General of the Institute “deve avere una crema di color nocciola, a tessitura finissima, senza bolle più o meno grandi“, in other words it must have a hazelnut coloured froth, a fine texture, and an even layer of bubbles.
And where should one drink the perfect coffee? Everyone probably has a favourite bar. Living in Turin I am spoilt for choice and maybe have the best bars in the whole of Italy (feel free to disagree). I highly recommend four of them: Caffè Torino, Caffè Ghigo, Baratti & Milano and Platti. But beware. These are historic bars so I normally have my coffee in piedi (standing up) otherwise I might have to take out a mortgage in order to pay the bill!
Do you have any coffee tips, favourite bars, links to sites ecc? Please feel free to share in the comment section below.
Posted in Food & Drink | 4 Comments »
Mooooooo
Written by admin on 15 April, 2009 – 11:44 am -
Distributore di latte crudo
This week I bought some latte crudo (’raw’ milk) from a special distributor in the centre of Cherasco, Piedmont. For quite some time I have been wanting to make a cappuccino using fresh milk straight from the cow and last night I finally managed it. Was it better than my usual cappuccino? Keep reading to find out.
Posted in Food & Drink | 1 Comment »
Word of the Week
Written by admin on 7 April, 2009 – 10:33 am -
Photo from sunrise7 on Flickr
On Sunday night at 3.32am an earthquake measuring 5.8 on the Richter Scale devastated the town of Aquila in the region of Abruzzo. At least 179 people were killed and 1,500 injured. 17,000 have been made homeless.
terremoto m.
earthquake
Our thoughts and prayers go out to all involved in this tragedy.
Posted in Language, News & Weather | 4 Comments »
Word of the Week
Written by admin on 2 April, 2009 – 9:15 am -
I am taking a break from the Italian Commedia dell’Arte characters. I’ll pick them up again next week.
The word I discovered yesterday is…
bisbigliare
to whisper
Why this strange word? Well, here’s the story.
The bosses dog, Aston, was sleeping on the floor near my desk. I leaned towards him and whispered in a really low voice biscotto (biscuit). He jumped up like a flash of lightning and ran over to the box where his food is kept. He seems to have a good grasp of Italian and his hearing is second to none!
That’s him in the photo. A cool character, he’s well behaved too. Even has his own group on Facebook, Aston & Co. There are some nice photos of him there so go and have a look. As for his Italian I’ll have to test a few more words out on him in the future (and reward him with biscuits)!
Posted in Interactive | 6 Comments »
